Bradford-based supermarket giant Morrisons said on Friday it will make immediate payments to its smaller suppliers to help them with cash flow during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“The faster payments will support their cashflow during a difficult time for the British economy,” said Morrisons.

Morrisons is also temporarily re-classifying a smaller supplier from those with £100,000 of business a year with the company to those with £1 million of business.

This will mean that an extra 1,000 small food businesses will qualify for these new payment terms. 

“The move will help businesses that provide up to £1m of turnover with Morrisons, including suppliers of local food and farmers that deal direct with Morrisons, such as those providing eggs and livestock,” said the Bradford firm.  

Morrisons CEO David Potts said: “We are Britain’s biggest single foodmaker and we want to be there for the smaller foodmakers, farmers and businesses that supply Morrisons.

“We’re a British family business and we will be doing our best to support them through this challenging period.” 

Morrisons has around 3,000 small suppliers including 1,750 farmers.

Morrisons will start the temporary payment terms next week and it is expected they will last until the end of May before being reviewed.